Wireless sensors are composed of modules encapsulated in a housing, which will be powered by a battery or vibration generator when working, constituting a wireless sensor network node, which is widely used, and everywhere in life an electronic device contains wireless sensors. Therefore, we are not new to wireless sensors. To help you understand more, this article will summarize the knowledge of wireless sensors. If you are interested in what will be covered in this article, then read on.

What is a wireless sensor?

A wireless sensor is a device that collects sensory information and detects changes in the local environment. Examples of wireless sensors include proximity sensors, motion sensors, temperature sensors, and liquid sensors. Wireless sensors do not perform heavy data processing locally, they consume very little power, and a single battery can last for years if the best wireless technology is used. In addition, sensors are easily supported on low-speed networks because they transmit very light data loads.

Wireless sensors can be grouped together to monitor environmental conditions throughout an area. These wireless sensor networks consist of many spatially dispersed sensors that communicate through wireless connections. Sensors in a public network share data through nodes that consolidate information at the gateway or nodes that each sensor connects directly to the gateway, assuming it can reach the necessary range. The gateway acts as a bridge to connect the local sensors to the Internet, acting as both a router and a wireless access point.

Main types of wireless sensors

1、Vibration sensor

The maximum sampling rate of each node can be set to 4KHz, and each channel is equipped with anti-alias low-pass filter. The collected data can be wirelessly transmitted to the computer in real time or stored in the node's built-in 2M data memory to ensure the accuracy of the collected data. The effective outdoor communication distance is up to 300m, and the node consumes only 30mA of power and can measure continuously for 18 hours using the built-in rechargeable battery. If you choose a node with USB interface, you can either charge the node through the USB interface or quickly download the data in the memory to the computer.

2、Strain sensor

The node is compact and small in size, consisting of a power supply module, an acquisition and processing module, and a wireless transceiver module, encapsulated in a PPS plastic housing. Each channel of the node is equipped with independent high-precision 120-1000Ω bridge resistor and amplifier conditioning circuit, which can be easily and automatically switched by software to select 1/4 bridge, half bridge and full bridge measurement methods, compatible with various types of bridge sensors, such as strain, load, torque, displacement, acceleration, pressure, temperature, etc. The node supports both 2-wire and 3-wire input methods with automatic bridge leveling, and can also be stored in the node's built-in 2M data memory. The effective outdoor communication distance can reach 300 m. Continuous measurement can be done for more than 10 hours.

3、Torque sensor

The node is compact, small in size and encapsulated in a resin housing. Each channel of the node has a built-in high precision 120-1000Ω bridge resistor and amplifier conditioning circuit. The bridge circuit is automatically leveled. The node can reach 250K BPS air transmission rate, 4K SPS effective real-time data transmission rate, and 100m effective indoor communication distance. The node is designed with special power management hardware and software. With real-time uninterrupted transmission, the node consumes only 25mA of power and can measure continuously for dozens of hours using a common 9V battery. For long-term monitoring applications, sending torque values at 5-minute intervals for several years without battery replacement greatly increases the maintenance-free nature of the system.